Suggestions for a last family holiday

[Brodpit]

We want to go away next June to celebrate the end of degrees, A levels, GCSEs, major birthdays and an anniversary with 2 DC in their early 20s, 2 DC having just done their exams. It’s possibly the last time we can go away as a family without accompanying BFs/GFs so it’s got a bit of a last hurrah about it.

I don’t want to be too perfect about it but I do want it to be great! Looking at a budget of up to £15,000 for two weeks.

Successful holidays in the past have included the north east coast of the US and Interrailing.

Any suggestions?

I think it’s our last family holiday this year too. We are doing Vietnam.

Svalbad, Norway and Sweden.

Adventure, amazing scenery and not a Mickey Mouse in sight unless getting eaten by a polar bear

Thanks for all your suggestions!

Interesting to see that Japan has had several mentions - that hadn’t been on my radar despite a friend who goes there a lot and loves it. I definitely need to check that out. I think that would be great for the DC - different and something for everyone.

Costa Rica was in the mix as was Vietnam. Good to hear about the cheaper flights to Singapore.

I appreciate the suggestions of south eastern US and Sicilly/Greece - and I get the points about the money - but I think I want the awe and wonder for the budget, along with a decent level of comfort.

I will get everyone onto the research at Christmas.

We did Costa Rica at a similar stage. Great fun in the cloud forest!

@Brodpit I think you will struggle for 6 on your budget for Japan. The flights alone will eat up half of it. There are people who will recommend hostel type accommodation but if you want 2 weeks in Japan for 6 adults you are not getting near a decent holiday with your budget. Maybe they didn’t read 6 adults?

You might be ok with SA as it’s winter. No, you won’t afford a luxury safari lodge! However SA might be doable with budget options. You might also find Vietnam ok and possibly Peru and Costa Rica. You would need to avoid luxury though. One good thing about SA is little time difference and direct flights.

You need to look closely at specific climates depending on when you'll travel. Vietnam for example has a massive variance in temp & rain in different parts. Japan for the most part is not fun over UK summer. If the climate works I would go with Vietnam and Cambodia. Fly to Hanoi for a couple of days, fly to Phu Quoc for some beach time, boat back to the mainland, cruise along the Mekong, HCMC then on to Cambodia if there's time. You can take a boat up the Mekong into Cambodia too.

You would have a very good time in Japan or Sri Lanka for that budget. We’ve done Japan with DCs and they loved it. I’m thinking Sri Lanka will be our final holiday together, the year after next.

Costa Rica? Turtles, volcanoes, cloud forest and beaches.

Vietnam? Just booked for DH and I. 2 adults cost c.£5k for flights and accommodation. So £15k is lots.

Mexico? We went touring round the Yucatan peninsula. About £10k for 2 weeks.

South Africa? Cape Town, Garden Route and Safari.

Canada? Vancouver, whales and bear watching

Iceland? My favourite holiday ever.

Sri Lanka! Travel around with a private driver - beach, jungle, city, culture, it has it all! Your DC will love Ella in the hills.

I recommend Red Dot Tours - a Sri Lankan based travel agency.

@Brodpit

Definitely Vietnam (and possibly Angkor Wat in Cambodia or maybe Laos).

We did a fantastic 11 night tour with Intrepid Travel earlier this year, the Vietnam Express Southbound beginning in Hanoi and finishing in Ho Chi Minh City (we stayed on in a posh hotel for another couple of nights then flew to Singapore where we stayed with friends). It’s a feast for the senses (and I used to live in South East Asia).

We thought it was fantastic value for money and our Australian friends who currently live in Singapore recommended Intrepid to us as they’d done tours with them.
I highly recommend it as the price included all hotel stays, almost all meals included, domestic travel, an overnight on a boat (for our own group) in Halong Bay, a domestic flight and lots of tours….the best was when we all went out for the day on motorcycles as pillion passengers, so much fun!

I also loved Hoi An which is beautiful and we had a day to ourselves with optional tours if we wanted to do them….we had bicycles and toured the countryside and went to the homes of locals who were so friendly.

The last full day was a trip on little boats along the Mekong Delta and a sumptuous lunch.

Intrepid Travel has been around for many years (it’s Aussie owned) and indeed one of the directors was on the same sleeper train as us from Hanoi. Some of our party continued on to Cambodia with Intrepid and there is also an option to do our itinerary beginning from HCMC northbound.

We flew with Singapore Airlines (my favourite as we used to live there and I stil feel a bit loyal to them) and booked it seperately, flying with Vietnam Airlines from SIN-Hanoi. There are usually cheaper flights with Malaysian Airlines, Emirates etc.

Www.intrepidtravel.com

Thailand or Vietnam

We had a similar last holiday a few years ago, 2 adults, 3 DC aged 15-21

We took a road trip in Ontario, Canada. Started out in Toronto, then Niagara Falls etc., Bruce Peninsula for lakes, Algonquin National Park for hiking. Then headed over to Ottawa, stopping at a riverside camp place on the way for a weekend for white water rafting. Ended in Montreal.

It was 2.5 weeks, most of the accommodation was Airbnb (there were some absolute bargains!), cost £13k in 2019, all in, including insurance and parking at Heathrow.

Everyone voted it Best Holiday Ever.

Canada….the Rockies…..Canmore, Banff, Jasper….hire mountain lodges ….we did it with ours loved it…..just hanging out together …..in lovely places….nice hiking and water sports …..
we stopped at Toronto on the way home for 3 nights .
that said, mine are 33, 31 and 26 now and still ask every year to come away with us! …..in March we are all going to Vietnam….last Christmas we all went to Australia with my 3 GD as well…..so never say never

Another vote for Japan. It’s great. £15k should be plenty for 6 people in June.

I’m a few years off it but when my kids are that sort of age I’d love us all to go to Costa Rica

£15,000 for 6 people to Japan is not enough unless it’s absolute bargain basement and very cheap flights. Probably indirect. Skyscanner is showing direct flights at just under £1000. There’s hotels, transport, meals etc all on top. For 14 days. Plus June is very hot and not great sightseeing weather. I would go when it’s better weather.

Borneo?

@TizerorFizz Even if they take the £1000 direct flights, £1500 per person is plenty for food, travel and incidentals without going cheap.

We’re going next April and our hotels for 13 night have come to about £750pp and April is quite a bit more expensive than June. The hotels are all in very central locations and are all decent business hotels (a Randor, a Daiwa Roynet Premier and a Sotutsu Fresa). we’ve also paid extra for larger King Rooms.

They wouldn’t need to be anywhere close to slumming it on that budget. Even if they spent as much as we have on hotels (and there are far cheaper options) then that still leaves £750pp for food and attractions. That’s ¥10,000 per day. You can have a great time in Japan on that budget. We could afford to spend that sort of money but as a general rule find that a daily spends don’t come close to that, with the exception of days when we’ve taken a Shinkansen or gone to a theme park.

Canada - Vancouver, whistler, sunshine coast. Tw ocentre. Whales, white water, lakes, city, cycling, walks, great food in Vancouver, beaches, mountains. It was our big summer blowout last year and we had the best time. Back to road trip to Germany this summer for a chill!

@Takoneko I guess your expectations are not mine. I still think this is not plenty of money for Japan and I have been.

@TizerorFizz Perhaps, but I’m pretty confident that my costings are in line with what’s typical.

This website says that “On average, budget travelers spend $57 (¥8,556) per person per day, mid-range travelers spend $145 (¥21,684) per day, and luxury travelers spend around $368 (¥54,995) per day. These costs are calculated from the expenses of previous travelers to Japan.”

The OP’s budget of about ¥20,000 per day excluding flights put her pretty solidly mid-range.

This blog is another example of a trip in a very similar price range for hotels and other costs.
https://thenavigatio.com/is-japan-expensive/

Just for context, this is one of the hotels we are staying in for our trip. https://randor-hotelprestige.hotels-hiroshima.com/en/ It’s not the Ritz but it’s also a long way from being a hostel. That’s the sort of accommodation bracket that you can get for a total cost of around £750 per person for two weeks.

How old were your kids ?